Bumps & Buffers
by Ivy Kendall
Summary: One-shot tag to 3.06 Friendship is a great place to start


Sharon sat down in the seat Andy held out for her. She tried not to sigh as she got comfortable, and rose slightly to allow him to push her in. It had been a long day after a tiring week, and time alone was exactly what she needed.

Waving a waiter over, Andy ordered a cranberry and soda for himself, and a crisp Riesling for Sharon.

"Sorry it can't be scotch," he said by way of apology, sitting across from her.

Sharon chuckled a little, "I don't need scotch, Andy. Wine is fine and you don't need the memory."

Andy smiled slightly, placing his chin in his hand in order to watch her better. "No... true, but I remember how good that first burn felt on the back of my throat. Days like today... cases like this one... all of them needed to be washed away."

The first time he admitted a longing for his favourite alcoholic drink, Sharon felt a cold chill down her spine. She worried that he was still too close to the edge of the proverbial wagon for either of their comforts. But that had been a long time ago, and she had learned to deal with his passive comments without making them bigger than they were. She understood all too well how that burn refocused attention, and she enjoyed it when she was younger, seated in her father's study, learning the fine art of a good scotch. The thing with having parents who were not far removed from Europe, was that they shared the European sensibility of teaching your children to drink while they were still teenagers at home. Many times over the years she had been grateful for those lessons, as she watched peers, and later her husband, struggle without knowing how to limit themselves. She never wanted Andy to fall back into that abyss, but she certainly wasn't going to censor him for the thought.

"Mmm... you do have a point," she agreed.

"Tough day all the way around."

"Tough week." Sharon sat back to allow the waiter to place her drink on the table. She hadn't even looked at her menu and was grateful when Andy asked the young man to give them ten more minutes. Food was the least of her concerns at the moment.

The wine hit the spot, and Sharon closed her eyes to enjoy the cool liquid going down her throat. When she opened them again, it was to look directly in the to laughing eyes of her companion. "What?" she almost laughed herself.

"Me? Oh, nuthin... I just love watching the way you enjoy the first sip. Your face changes and you look like you're having an out-of-body experience. It's nice."

Sharon smiled at the thought, "Out of body? Sounds just about right. Sometimes I would like to leave and be somewhere else."

"I'll try not to take that personally."

Sharon lowered her eyes and gave him a sardonic glare, which brought out his chuckle. She was grateful it was so easy between them. He understood. He knew.

The sat in silence for a bit, the waiter hovering just out of sight, looking for a clue. Finally Andy ordered and Sharon said she would have the same. She really wasn't hungry.

Sharon knew Andy was waiting for her to start talking, whenever that happened. Until that time, he would let her take the lead. He always let her take the lead, unless he had something huge to process. Then she would be the one sitting, waiting, listening, and finally making it better.

"Jack thinks I'm dating someone," she finally blurted out.

"What?" Andy replied, glass stopping in midair. "How the hell did he come to that conclusion?"

Sharon shrugged and rolled her eyes, "Oh, you know Jack, it's always got to be about him somehow. It's never because I'm fed up. Apparently he was pushing Rusty for answers about who I was dating."

"I didn't know you were dating anyone."

"I'm not, that's the thing. Jack seems to think there must be some other man, or else I wouldn't push him for a divorce."

"Push him?" Andy sneered, "I'd say two decades was the opposite of pushing. What did he expect, that you were always going to wait around for him?"

"Mmm... apparently he thinks he's getting half of my savings and my pension."

"Son of a bitch," Andy growled, banging his glass on the table. "He's got one hell of a lot of nerve. I hope you told him to take a hike."

Sharon remained the more composed of the two, as always, but she shared Andy's feelings on the matter. "You do know this reaction was why I sent you out of the office, don't you? If I wanted to shoot him, I can only imagine how you'd respond. Yes... I did tell him to 'take a hike', or something close to that. I threw down the gauntlet and told him I'd go after years of back child support payments, and he can try his luck in the court, justifying his years of abandonment."

"Good girl," Andy's smile returned. "That asshole has some nerve. Provenza saw the papers. He asked me about them."

"Lt. Provenza?" Sharon was surprised. "Why would he ask you and not me?"

"I dunno..." it was Andy's turn to shrug, "I guess he figures we talk more and that you would tell me what you were thinking. I still don't think he gets how private you can be, and how you make up your own mind after thinking about things. You don't explode like I do."

Sharon contemplated Andy's reply, tilting her head to the side and pursing her lips slightly. "I guess he figures he's been so involved with what's happening with Rusty, that he'd want to know this too."

"Rusty? You're divorcing Jack for Rusty? What's he done to the kid?" Andy's agitation rose again.

Reaching across the table, Sharon took Andy's hand in hers and squeezed slightly. "Andy... I'm doing this for me. Don't worry, okay? I can take care of myself."

Squeezing back, he tried to make himself relax. "I know that. You take care of yourself, me, the Kid, the team, and everyone else. I just don't like the idea of you being pushed around by that guy."

"You know..." she pulled her hand away, and sat taller in her chair, "it was different this time. So many times before I've mentioned divorce, and he'd push back, and I'd feel guilty. But this time I looked at him, and saw a doddering old man who doesn't even look like the man I married almost thirty years ago. He's working now, so I don't have to worry about how he lives. He's nothing but a problem to solve. He's going to try to make this ugly, I know that. But I don't care."

"Just promise me one thing. Promise me you won't give into his demands just to get rid of him. That never goes well. Me and Provenza can tell you that one from personal experience."

She smiled at him in gratitude, and was about to lean across the table again, when the food arrived. She hadn't been hungry before, but talking about things was making her feel better, and Andy had a well developed pallet. She always enjoyed his food choices. Nips of hunger finally entered her stomach, chasing out the tension that had been there all day.

"I promise," she smiled, her eyes twinkling for the first time all day. "But enough about Jack, how are you?"

"Me?" Andy shrugged, digging into his entree.

"Yes, you... Andrea told me you were testy in electronics yesterday. This case hit you hard."

"She told you? Yeah, I bit her head off. I apologized later, though."

"She's not mad. She just thought I might like to know one of my lieutenants was taking it personally."

"Personally..." Andy snorted, shoving food on his plate. Then his demeanor changed. "She was a forgotten kid, you know... she reminded me of Nic a little, and all I could think about was... did my kid think she was ever forgotten like that? Did she think running away would have made everything better? It just got to me."

This time when Sharon reached across the table, she didn't stop. She placed her hand on his forearm, and caressed his jacket. "Andy... you never made Nicole's life that hard."

"How do you know?"

"You weren't in the morgue with me. You didn't see the deep cigarette burns on her back."

"I'm glad I didn't," he looked up at her, eyes sorrow-filled. "The pictures were bad enough. Who the hell does that to their kid? I mean... I made a lot of mistakes over the years, and my drinking did a lot of damage, but I never... not even when I was drunk... hit my kids. What kind of monster did that?"

"I don't know," she said softly, still stroking his arm gently. "We found her too late to make a difference."

"We can't forget her. We have to give her a name."

She put her hand back into his, lacing her fingers. "We won't forget her, and we will find her a name."

"You're taking a file home with you, aren't you," he smiled softly. He knew her well.

"I made a duplicate for you."

He couldn't stop his chuckle. He didn't want to. "We're a pair, aren't we."

"Yeah..." she smiled.

"Thanks, by the way."

"For what?"

"The service. Thanks for the support. I needed that."

"I know. I saw your face. You weren't the only one feeling it, Andy."

"Yeah, but the rest of you were handling it better than me. I tend to wear my feelings on my sleeve too much."

"That's one of the things I like about you," she tightened her fingers around his. "I admire how you make the families and victims important. I depend on you for that."

"Do me another favour then," he squeezed back, "next time Jack comes around, don't send me away. Let me be there for you. Let me be your buffer for a change."

She was silent for a minute, considering her words, then she looked up at him. "No, I won't promise you that. I know you'll barge in and I don't want you in the thick of it. I want this afterwards. A quiet restaurant, a place to unwind, a friend who will be there for me whether I want to talk or not. Don't ask me to make you part of the fight. I need you to be my safe place when it's all over."

He didn't like it. She knew he didn't like it. But he nodded his agreement. He had no choice.

They talked children and adoption and divorce and making things better, as they worked through their meal. Neither had been very hungry, but little was left when they finished.

After he paid the bill, Andy helped Sharon up from her seat, "A walk on the beach?"

"Sounds good."

Grabbing her bag, Sharon stood up and smiled as Andy stuffed a tip under his plate, then turned with him to leave the restaurant. She was surprised when he bumped her shoulder lightly, and couldn't help the smile.

"You are a great friend, Andy Flynn," she said, reaching her arm around his waste.

"I was just thinking that about you," he smiled back, placing his arm across her shoulders and hugging her to his side. "The best."


End file.
